Harmony
by RavenNyxSilverwing
Summary: James Kirk and Spock met when they were children and fell in love. As Spock returned to the Academy to teach, he and Jim split up. This is the story of how they got back together and the rest of their lives.
1. Prologue: Endings

Harmony

Prologue: Endings

Spock and Jim had met early in life, due to Winona Kirk's job as an ambassador to the Betazoid. Her job meant that from time to time Jim and his brother would be forced to follow their mother to the formal parties that the federation always threw in honour of this or that ambassador. At one of these parties Jim Kirk ran, literally, head first into the Vulcan ambassadors son Spock, son of Sarek.

Winona had been angry, Spock's mother Lady Amanda had laughed and Ambassador Sarek had lifted an eyebrow in a way that Kirk had interpreted as amusement. Spock had looked slightly scandalised before the physical contact with Jim had broken through his mental walls and caused him to start laughing.

From that day on Spock and Jim were friends and when Lady Amanda was on earth you could always find Spock in Iowa at the farm or Jim in San Francisco at the Vulcan embassy. As the years went Spock and Jim's relationship grew deeper and it came as no surprise to anyone when they told their families that they were dating.

They had been fighting for a while now. Not over big things but small thing, and okay over a few big thing. The biggest problem they had was the fact that Spock wanted to return to the Academy and finish his dissertation, so he could go on an do the required three years as a professor, that was needed to be a science officer on a starship. Jim wanted to stay in Iowa, living a free life, studying at the University and doing what ever he wanted. Spock told him that it would be illogical not to take his future seriously and do something with his intellect.

Jim had heard all of Spock's arguments before, but he wasn't ready to join Starfleet and moving to San Francisco and not joining Starfleet meant giving up the life he had now. After all it was much harder to be a genius level repeat offender in a city where everything you did reflected badly on Starfleet, San Francisco had the lowest crime rate in California.

After a few loud arguments, never believe a Vulcan that says that they don't have emotions, because that is a big fat lie, they had agreed that it was best for them to separate. Neither Spock nor Jim really wanted to do that, but they both knew that sooner or later, Jim thought sooner personally, they would have a fight big enough to rip them apart and that would mean that they would brake up on bad terms.

So at the end of August, Spock and Jim said farewell at the Riverside shuttle dock and neither of them ever expected that they would see each other again, except in passing. After all Vulcan's needed stable bonds later in life. They said their goodbye's as friends with a warmth that spoke of fondness and love, something that everyone at the shuttle dock could see. Some of the more empathically sensitive persons at the dock even cried at the bittersweet picture they made.

But the story of the Vulcan and the Human saying goodbye would somehow never make it to Starfleet Academy, even if several of the waiting people were Starfleet cadets.


	2. Chapter 1: Meetings

Chapter 1: Meetings

Jim knew that the time had come to face his fears when he came back from being unconscious and saw Commander Pike. It was one thing to say no to Spock, but it had been two years. He had already finished his degrees in math and engineering and so for the last year he had just drifted from job to job and bar to bar. He was getting sick of it.

And the thing was the more he drifted the more he missed Spock. He had rarely heard from Spock since they separated, just the odd holiday greeting and a few messages on the days that had been, and still were, important to them.

Pike was talking he noticed and focused on the conversation again. He knew that he had a reputation to uphold and he decided that since Pike seemed to believe all the rumours that floated around he would act like those rumours said.

When Pike finally left, after repeating the arguments that Spock had always used and added his little challenge about being better than his father, Jim slumped down in the chair. Duke, the owner of the bar and the only one in the town that had known Jim his entire life and knew all about Spock appeared from the back room.

He sat down in Pike's abandoned chair and waited. Finally Jim couldn't deal with the silence anymore and looked up.

"Yes, Duke. What do you want?" Duke smiled, showing off the fact that he was missing a few teeth. He pushed a new drink over to Jim who nodded thankfully.

"Are you going to take that challenge? You know that no one here in Riverside sees you as your father, and most don't even care about the petty crimes either." Jim laughed mockingly.

"One of my crimes was not petty in anyway, Duke. I stole a car." Duke sorted and leaned forward.

"You know that no one cares about that around here. But you should take that offer. I would be good for you to get away from here awhile. Beside you might get a chance to see Spock again." Duke smiled at the light blush that dusted Jim's cheeks. It was cute too see Jim react like that to someone, even if it was over two years ago that they broke up.

Jim said good night to Duke and walked out of the bar. He spent a few hours driving around thinking and finally he knew what he would do. Instead of finishing the academy in four years he would do it in three. Really make sure that everyone knew that he wasn't his father.

The next morning Jim showed up at the shuttle dock connected to the Riverside shipyard at the last possible second. Pike seemed both amused and annoyed at that but he smiled when Jim answered his challenge with another one. He was sure he could finish command track in three years and he would prove himself.

As he entered the shuttle the only thing on his mind was the fact that he never thought he would ever join Starfleet but here he was dropping everything and leaving Riverside on a whim.

Smiling he noticed the woman that had started the bar fight the night before. Uhura that was her name.

"I never did get that first name." Uhura rolled her eyes and Jim smiled at her before his attention was caught by the man arguing with the shuttle pilot. He was almost screaming about having a seat in the bathroom. Jim assumed that the vas afraid of flying. The man was almost forced into the seat next to him and then he turned to Jim.

"I may throw up on you." Jim tried to subtly scoot away in his seat.

"I think these things is pretty safe." He only half listened to the ramblings that followed from the man. He got the meaning though, that space was dangerous and that the shuttle could explode at any second. He wondered how the man would survive in Starfleet with that attitude.

"I hate to brake this to you, but Starfleet operates in space." The man snorted and Jim could not help but like him. He was amusing.

"Got nowhere else to go. The ex-wife took the whole damn planet in the divorce. All I've got left is my bones." Jim decided that it was time to introduce himself and he hoped that the man wouldn't make a big deal out of his name.

"Jim Kirk." Jim shook hands with the man and noticed the looks he got from the people next to them. The looks of surprise and scorn when they noticed that the famous Jim Kirk wasn't perfect. He hoped that he had totally ruined his reputation with these people. That always amused his mother and got her to talk to him a few minutes longer than normal. She was almost always busy with her diplomatic missions.

"McCoy. Leonard McCoy." Thankfully the man hadn't reacted to Jim's name.

"So, Bones, what are your plans at Starfleet?" The man raised his eyebrows at Jim.

"Bones? Where did that come from. And I am a doctor. I have a place in Starfleet medical. I'm guessing that you are going to take the command track?" Jim smiled at how easy the man answered.

"Well you did say that all you had left were your bones. I'm actually going to take two programs. Command and science. I'll probably test out of most of science track though since I studied math and engineering at University of Iowa. I'm also planning on testing out of the xenocultural and xenolinguistic courses." He didn't get longer than that before Uhura snorted loud enough to catch the attention of everyone nearby.

"Right, like a backwater delinquent like you have even one degree let alone two. And manage to test out of two of the largest courses at Starfleet? Don't think so." Jim answered by removing a PADD from his pocket and giving it to Uhura. The PADD held copies of his education records. And then he decided to answer the other claim. In Vulcan.

"Gla-tor nash-veh riolozhikaik kae." That translated to 'I see an illogical mind'. Meaning someone who could not understand or imagine the truth. (AN: The closest I could get to what I wanted separated it means I see illogical mind. So it is close.)

Uhura looked stunned. Vulcan was one of the most difficult languages to learn because the human vocal cords wasn't meant to pronounce some of the words in the right way. And to be fluent in Vulcan you needed to know much about their culture because some words lost their meanings if used in the wrong situation. That Jim had just insulted her in a very Vulcan way was to Jim just a bonus. Bones asked Jim what he had just said.

"What did that mean and why does she look so insulted." Jim smiled.

"She told me at a bar yesterday that her major at the Academy is to be xenolinguistics so I told her in Vulcan that she has an illogical mind. That is an insult meaning that the person you are talking to is unable to see the truth because they do not rely on logic. It's like telling a Orion that they are ugly because they are green." Bones winced. That was a serious insult. Uhura glared the rest of the way to the shuttle dock in San Francisco but Bones had stopped thinking about the fact that he was flying.

The man doing the registration had taken one look at Jim's school records and then asked which courses he wanted to test out of. Jim answered and was then showed into a large hall with a PADD so that he could take the tests needed while the rest of the paperwork and found uniforms and a room for Jim.

It took him five hours to finish the tests and the only one left in the hall was a teenager who couldn't be older than fifteen. Which meant that he would have to test out of high school before he could take the placement tests that everyone had to take when they finished high school.

The man, who now looked a bit ragged, gave Jim a PADD with all the information he needed, like his schedule and room number. He was told that he was sharing room with Dr. McCoy since he had refused everyone else. That was fine by Jim if he couldn't get a single he wanted to share rooms with someone he could trust. And he knew that he could trust Bones. Sometimes his empathy came in handy.

The first and second year was rather uneventful except for the parade of women that Bones had going in and out of the room. Somehow Jim got the blame for that and the reputation as a ladies man. No one listened when Jim tried to tell the gossipers that he had no interests in women and that he preferred men. Jim blamed Uhura for that.

The last year was more interesting. Jim had finally managed to track down Spock, he had apparently been sent by Starfleet to the Mars colony to teach at the Starfleet campus there. But this year he would be back to teach xenolinguistics and computer science. Two classes that Jim had tested out of.

It took a few weeks before Jim's schedule allowed him to drop in on one of Spock's classes, to his luck it was one of the xenolinguistics classes that Uhura still participated in even though she was finished with her dissertation in language. The rumour on campus was that she had a crush on Spock. Jim had laughed so hard when he had heard that.

But since he refused to answer why he was laughing the rumours still circulated. Jim knew that Spock would never chose a human female as a mate, they were to fragile and he never wanted to treat a woman like his mother was during Pon Farr. Spock knew that his father loved his mother and that his mother loved his father, but Pon Farr was hard on her.

Jim snuck in with the rest of the student the only one who reacted to the fact that he shouldn't have been there was Christine Chapel who just looked at him and laughed slightly when Jim shushed her.

The class in itself was a bit boring. Spock was talking about Vulcan language and culture. Jim knew more about Vulcan culture and language than anyone in the room except Spock. Of course was Uhura the one who started in on the subject of bonding's and endearments between bondmates.

"While there exists words of affection in the Vulcan language they are rarely used in public. Bonding is intensely intimate in the Vulcan culture and most interactions are kept impersonal. The reason why were explained in the xenocultural classes." One cadet raised his hand.

"Sorry, sir but not all of us took xenocultural since it's not a required course." Spock raised an eyebrow showing his annoyance for anyone who could read him. Spock hated people who didn't prepare for things. Jim decided to explain so that Spock didn't have to.

"Vulcan bonds are created in the minds of the bondmates. The bond creates a link between the minds. That link allows the bondmates to feel each other all the time, and if the bond is strong enough and the minds are compatible they can even talk to each other through that link. Therefore there is no need for endearments to be spoken aloud. There are still those who prefer to use them but that is a personal choice." Spock now had both eyebrows raised. He was surprised to see Jim but not surprised over the fact that he answered.

"That is correct. As always Jim." Now it was the cadets turn to be surprised. Spock didn't often praise his students and Jim wasn't even one of Spock's students.

Spock continued the lecture and a few seconds before the bell rang he ended the class.

"Jim kindly stay after." Jim nodded and stayed seated when the rest left the classroom. Not everybody left though. Uhura stayed to talk to Spock and Jim decided to stay but keep his distance so that they could talk uninterrupted. He hadn't expected Uhura to talk so loud though. Jim heard her and Spock all the way to the back of the room.

"Professor since this is my last class with you I was wondering if you would go on a date with me?" She sounded hopeful and Jim was almost sad that she would get hurt, because there was no way a rejection don't hurt. Spock leaned forward a bit.

"I regret to inform you, Nyota, that I must decline your invitation. I do not date human females. I am sorry if you feel that I have in any way given you the impression that I was interested in more than a professional relationship." He sounded like he normally did but his word was regretful. Uhura's back had gotten straighter the longer Spock spoke. At the end she nodded stiffly and walked out, neither Spock nor Jim noticed that she lingered outside the open doorway to the room listening to their conversation.

"K'diwa, it has been a long time since we last met." Spock sounded happy and the tone was fond. Uhura had to bite her own cheek to stop herself from gasping. K'diwa meant that Spock and Jim have a deep emotional connection. She wondered how that could have happened, as far as she knew Spock and Jim had never met before.

"Yes, it has been. Not since you went back here to teach, I started here two years ago but you have been at the Mars Colony. Since I heard you were back I decided to make sure we met again." Uhura peered around the corner into the room. Spock was sitting in his chair where he had been during her talk with him, and Jim was sitting on Spock's desk in front of him. It looked like they had been in that position before.

"Did you finish your degrees, then? After all that was the reason you gave for not accompany me here two years ago." Jim nodded.

"Yes finished both of them shortly after you left but I still felt like I would be trapped here. Now that I have been here for awhile I know I was wrong. But the past is the past. There is only one thing I regret. Having to break up with you." Spock put his hand on Jim's.

"That is something I regret too K'diwa. But if you are amenable I would like to resume our relationship." Jim leaned forward. Uhura was aware that there was a crowds gathering with her listening to what was happening inside the room but she couldn't care less.

"I would like that Spock. But isn't it better to start dating again? It has been more than two years." Spock nodded and Uhura had to shush the crowd to hear his response.

"That would be acceptable K'diwa. Are you available for lunch?" Jim laughed and stood up forcing Uhura and the crowd to quickly disperse.

"I am meeting a friend, but I am sure that he would like to meet you, so would you like to join us?"

"Of course Jim. I would like to meet your friends as well." They walked out of the room together not paying much attention to the cadets milling around the hallway.


	3. Chapter 2: Beginnings

Harmony Chapter 2: Beginnings

Bones was waiting in the mess hall, and he had been waiting for awhile. If Jim hadn't warned him that he might be late Bones would have been seriously pissed. He hadn't been alone at the table long before Hikaru Sulu and Pavel Chekov turned up. They wondered why he was sitting alone and where Jim was. He quickly shooed them off, and just at the right time too, because seconds after they left Jim entered the room with professor Spock.

That chocked Bones. Sure, Jim had told him that he and Spock had dated for several years before Jim had joined Starfleet, but seeing is of course believing. Before they even made it to the table with their trays the whisperings from the cadets had reached him. Apparently Jim and Spock had been a bit to intimate for strangers or even for friends. Bones wondered how they would stop the rumors this time.

Jim sat down in front of Bones with a cheery hello, while Spock just nodded as he sat down. Bones leaned closer to Jim. There was no need to give the Academy more gossip.

"How are you going to get rid of the rumors of this one then? Apparently a lot of cadets saw your little conversation in the classroom." Jim laughed. Spock's ears turned slightly green but he seemed as composed and tranquil as normal.

"That's simple Bones. We will date a few week while you continue your parade of women through our room and then we will, by all appearances , break up because we have different goals in life." Spock eyed Bones in a way that Bones found creepy. Jim noticed the squirm that Bones could not stop and snorted loudly. Spock smirked, still eyeing Bones.

Bones squirmed again and ate faster, that look really made him want to get as far away as possible. Jim just laughed at his desperation and started talking to Spock about how teaching was going. Bones observed them and came to the conclusion that they actually liked each other very much. And that was probably good, Bones wished Spock all the good in the world if he wanted Jim. Even if Jim wasn't a ladies man ha was flighty and wasn't the kind of man you expected to stay in the same place.

Little did he know that Spock and Jim had dated for more than two years when they broke up.

A few weeks passed and Spock and Jim went on a few dates and then, in the eyes of the Academy at least, they broke up again. A lot of cadets decided to take the chance to get Spock who had become highly desirable since his relationship with Jim told people that he was approachable and not frigid. For Jim not much had changed. The normal amount of girls threw themselves at him and got rejected. And in the shadows Spock and Jim continued dating. It was made easier since they stayed "friends".

About two weeks after the fake "break up", Jim and Spock was called into Pike's office to find that Winona Kirk and Amanda Grayson was waiting for them. They hadn't been expecting that. But as the good children that they were, they sat down and waited to be told what their mothers wanted. Pike smirked at the apprehensive look on Jim's face and the almost unnoticeable squirming that Spock would deny doing if asked.

Amanda smiled warmly at her son and Jim. She didn't often get to see Spock since he started at the Academy. Winona had latched on to Jim as she always did when they met. It had caused Jim a lot of embarrassment over the years. But since it was better than having a mother that didn't care Jim had decided early that he would just smile and stand it. Pike subtly forced Winona to let Jim go and started the meeting.

"Jim, Spock, Starfleet needs your help. Your parents were on a diplomatic mission to Xanadu IV, but the diplomatic team from the Excelsior, that had did the first contact, forgot to mention that all negotiations between Xanadu's people and their guests need to be opened by what they call bondings. These bondings don't take place between the people of Xanadu and the guests but between to members of the guests. Two Xanadu's likewise bond." Pike stopped talking there and Winona picked up.

"There was no one amongst the diplomatic team that wanted to bond, so they gave us two weeks to go home and come back with a couple that wanted to bond or the negotiations is over. We hope that you would like to help us by bonding a bit earlier than you planned." That was something that made Pike react. He hadn't known that they had planned a bonding in the future. Like everyone else he had believed that they really had broken up.

Jim looked at Spock. He had no problems bonding earlier but he knew that Spock had wanted to bond on Vulcan with his father and clan leader there. It seemed like Spock was the one who had to decide. Spock was still and contemplative. He knew that Jim had no demands on the bonding ceremony except that Spock was there and that Spock wanted to bond with him. Spock on the other hand had wanted a traditional Vulcan ceremony.

"Who is in your diplomatic team, mother?" Amanda smiled slightly, she knew her son's views on bonding. Everyone who knew Spock knew his views on bonding, even his students.

"Your father and T'Pau and a few diplomatic aids joined us. When we leave again Commander Pike will join us, as will Admiral Archer." Spock nodded like he had anticipated that answer and who knows he might have, Spock's brain worked like a computer from time to time. Spock stood up which made Jim do the same.

"Mother, Winona, we will give you our answer in a few minutes. Commander Pike." He nodded and walked out. Jim smiled at the three and followed Spock to his office. Spock seemed normal but Jim knew that he was a bit confused. It was a big decision.

"What do you want to do Spock? You know that they wont force us if we don't agree. " Spock nodded. Jim wrapped his arms around Spock and held him, sharing his love with Spock through touch.

"It would be illogical to force the unwilling. Jim if you are amenable I would be gratified to bond on Xanadu." Spock's ears were slightly green, like they always were when he was embarrassed and trying to hide his emotions. Jim just smiled. After so many years he had learned how Spock spoke and the meaning behind the words.

"I would love to bond with you. But are you sure? You wanted to bond on Vulcan because it was tradition while I have always thought that as long as our parents were with us it wouldn't matter where we do it." They talked a little while longer and then walked back to Pikes office.

Winona and Amanda was still there, talking to Pike and Admiral Archer who had joined them. And where Admiral Archer went, his prized beagle did too. Kingston, the beagle, was at the moment destroying Pikes potted plants. If Pike's glances at the dog was any indication he feared for his plants.

Jim picked up the dog before sitting down in the chair that was available. Spock remained standing but moved over so that he was behind his mothers chair. Pike was looking from Jim to Spock and back again. Spock's eyebrow rose and the silence dragged on. Eventually Pike could not stand the silence anymore.

"So did you come to an agreement on the bonding?" Pike sounded amused and Archer's yaw dropped. Amanda could not help but giggle at the look on Archer's face. Jim was smothering his laughter in the neck of the beagle, while Spock answered like nothing was going on around him.

"We have decided to accept and accompany you to Xanadu for our bonding ceremony." Archer was still spluttering questions when they left half an hour later. Everything had been arranged so that they only had to show up by the shuttle. The only thing that still had to be done was to convince Jim's teachers that it would be good for Jim to be allowed to go on the diplomatic trip. It was only when Archer, still muttering about bondings, stepped in that Jim was allowed to miss class to go.

The departure day came quickly and most of Jim's classmates were jealous that Jim got to go on a high profile diplomatic mission before he even left school. That his mother was on the mission too was something most overlooked. But the few that that had noticed smiled, it was well known to the more aware cadets that Jim had followed his mother on diplomatic missions when he was a kid.

Spock was quietly amused that most cadets cornered him and asked if he really wanted to spend a week with his ex on a transport vessel and then spend a few weeks with him on Xanadu. Spock usually said that it would be illogical to ignore a mission based on one person alone and then quoted the Vulcan mantra, 'the need of the many outweigh the need of the few or the one'.

Half of the senior cadets were at the shuttle dock to say good bye to Jim and Spock. Jim was well liked by his fellow cadets and Spock was the most loved professor. He was strict but fair and you could always ask him question and get an answer. So there really was not surprising that a lot of cadets turned up to see the shuttle leave. But the amount of propositions that the cadets gave Spock and Jim shocked everyone else on the diplomatic team.

Admiral Archer had commented that cadets hadn't turned up like that when he was a teacher at Starfleet to which Winona had said that Spock was much cuter and Jim was better at making friends. Which were true.

The trip was quiet and uneventful. Spock spent most of his time with his parents since he didn't get to see them all that often. Jim split his time between homework and bugging Archer and playing with the puppy. Winona stayed close to her son but she saw him often enough not to need to talk to him more than normal.

Jim was amazed when he first saw Xanadu from space. It was a big green/red planet that had wide bands of water crossing the planet making a pattern that looked almost like squares. Spock had done nothing, he had decided to look Xanadu up in the data banks before and was therefore ready for the beauty of the planet.

When the shuttle landed they were met by the Herold to the King and the two citizens who was to be bonded. Winona had asked them before they left the planet if they bonded of their own free will and they had assured her that they had applied for the honor to bond in front of the King and his visitors.

The King, a young man, had taken one look at Jim and Spock and decided that the bonding was to take place that evening. The fact that Starfleet actually had returned with a couple that wanted to bond before being asked was apparently very well liked.

The bonding ceremony was simple, but beautiful. The couples were escorted to a large open hall that was filled with flowers. The King and the High Priestess was standing at the end of the hall with their parents standing to one side. They were asked to hold their partners hands and then, during a chant their hands were tied together. What Jim and Spock hadn't expected was the mental bond that seemed to form while the ribbon was tied around their hands.

When the ceremony was over the bond was stable and deep, like a Vulcan bond. T'Pau later confirmed that it was a Vulcan bond. Spock and Jim spent a very enjoyable week in their room while the rest of the team and their parents finished the negotiations.

If asked both Jim and Spock would answer that they were happy, but they dreaded returning to the Academy since they were so deeply bonded that they could not hide it. But that was a matter for a later date. The trip back wasn't a high priority one and would take almost three weeks with a stop at the Mars colony.


	4. Chapter 3: Complications

Harmony Chapter 3: Complications

Their honeymoon was short. Just a few days while the Excelsior travelled back to the closest Starbase. And when they arrived at the Starbase both Spock and Jim was given reports to finish before the Excelsior arrived back on Earth, they had a few more days than usual since they would be stopping at the Mars colony, but it made Jim a bit irritated. They bonded earlier than they had expected and had compromised on the location. They had earned the right to a honeymoon, but Pike told Jim that this was the life of a Starfleet officer.

Amanda and Winona were the only ones who were totally happy. Their son's had finally bonded, something they had been talking about for years. Well the years they had been together that is. Sarek was stoic as usual and only Amanda could see that he was happy, if slightly concerned. She was almost certain that he was concerned about their clan's reaction to a bonding that did not take place on Vulcan.

Pike still wasn't sure that Spock and Jim's relationship was real but he had to trust that what Sarek said about Vulcan bonds were true. That you could enter a bond with out love but not with lies. Whatever that meant. Pike thought that Vulcan's were vague on purpose so that they could observe the confused reactions the humans would give.

The rest of the journey to Earth went quickly and for the most part smoothly. There were a few altercations between Jim and Spock but they worked out their problems quickly so the adjustment period went smoothly. To the crew of the Excelsior it was obvious that Jim loved Spock deeply and to the more observant crewmembers, it was clear that Spock loved Jim as well. However, most crewmembers only saw Jim's love.

At the Academy, things were different. Here most Cadets's thought that Jim had broken up with Spock and that Spock was trying to find a new partner. No one knew quite where the rumour about Spock seeking a new partner came from. Most suspected that it had been Nyota Uhura, she had been pursuing Spock very openly and aggressive before he started dating Jim again, but the truth was that it had been Christine Chapel. She had spread the rumour that Spock was looking for a bondmate after she had listened to Uhura explaining that Vulcan males always had a bondmate after they turned twenty-five, even going as far as bonding again immediately after losing their previous one. Spock had turned twenty-five a few weeks earlier.

Bones was watching the progression of the rumours with the air of someone who knew that the world around them was so very wrong. It annoyed everyone around him because he refused to tell anyone why he was so smug and superior when people were gossiping. He knew of course that Spock and Jim were still together and that their break-up was just a way to keep their relationship more private. Vulcan's were after all a very private species.

Christine Chapel on the other hand was planning, she desperately wanted Spock, she did not quite know why. Spock had never talked to her as anything other than her teacher and he had never dated one of his students, Jim was the only one that Spock had even dated as far as the Cadet's knew. But Christine was sure that she could win Spock's affection and that she needed to have him as hers.

If the doctors at Starfleet knew of the depths of her obsession with Spock, she would be dismissed on the grounds of mental instability.

However, Christine did not care about anything but her plans, and her plans were dependant on if she could find girls who could lie convincingly enough to persuade Spock that Jim had been cheating on him from the beginning. She found a few Cadets' that was from Iowa and that had known Jim from before. Christine wasn't stupid she knew that Jim hadn't broken up with Spock. She had listened to Uhura's lecture on Vulcan's and had caught the information that Uhura had told on a side note, that Vulcan's didn't interact with previous partners when searching for someone new. And Spock was still interacting with Jim, playing chess with him every week and eating at least one meal a week with him and Cadet McCoy.

So she planned and plotted in secret to present enough 'evidence' of Jim's cheating that Spock could no longer be with Jim. Then she could be there for Spock as he got over Jim. She failed to think about the fact that Vulcan's were touch telepaths, but she would find that out when it was too late to stop her plans.

The day that the Excelsior came back to Earth was a normal Tuesday, it was a bright and clear day, and all of the Cadet's were excited to find out how the diplomatic mission went. The reports filed had all been classified, sure there was a lot of cadet's who was talented enough to get the files anyway but Admiral Archer had done something funny and slightly mean. Whenever anyone tried to break into the files, they first had to see a picture of one of Archer's beagle puppies sitting on the floor with big pleading eyes. No one managed to get by that picture.

Pike had laughed when he was told how Archer had protected the mission reports. Jim thought it mean since most cadets' that had taken the computer route had to break into classified mission reports and then take those reports to their teacher as a gradation project. At the moment, the Xanadu mission reports were the only classified files on the Academy servers. Spock was just amused at the thought that a picture could thwart humans, until he saw the picture himself. He and Sarek were of the opinion that Archer was a very sadistic human.

Jim wasn't sure if Spock wanted to announce their bonding and so choose to do the passive aggressive thing and not say anything about it to anyone until someone asked. Unbeknownst to him Spock had decided to do the same thing. But he had told his mother and Winona that it was up to Jim if he wanted to announce it and if they wanted to tell anyone they would have to ask him first.

Winona had pouted at that, she knew her son and he would say that they would have to ask Spock, and then they would be stuck. Pike had gone ahead and changed Spock's and Jim's records so that the box "Husband/Wife/Mate/Other" was filled with each other's names. No one read the student records anyway.

A lot of Cadet's that knew either Spock or Jim, or both, waited at the shuttle port for them to arrive. The first shuttle that arrived only contained Pike, Archer, Spock's parents and Jim's mother. The Cadet's were slightly disappointed, if Spock and Jim didn't turn up soon they would have to go back to their classes without any new gossip.

But they didn't have to do that because Spock and Jim arrived on the next shuttle, looking relaxed and happy. They weren't so relaxed and happy when they were mobbed.

They were separated when Spock's friends, who was most of the junior teachers and a few cadet's, decided that Spock needed to tell them everything right away and that the noise from Jim's group of friends was too loud.

Spock had just enough time to send a short mental message to his bondmate, before he was pushed in a very undignified manner out of the shuttle dock and down the street. Jim was amused at Spock's embarrassment and annoyance.

He spent a nice afternoon being interrogated by his friends before Bones saved him right after the last afternoon class. Bones had wanted to be there when Jim had arrived but he had been working at Starfleet Medical and they were stricter than strict about everyone being where they were supposed to be.

"So, where is Spock?" Bones asked Jim when they were safely back in their dorm room. Jim laughed.

"He is somewhere with his friends. If I know them correctly they are in a bar somewhere. Spock is very annoyed right now." Bones caught the last part Jim said immediately.

"What do you mean that Spock is very annoyed right now? How can you know that?" Jim blushed slightly realising that he and Spock never told Bones that they were going on a mission to be bonded.

"Sorry Bones, it totally slipped my mind before the mission that we never told you what it was about. Starfleet needed to people willing to bond with each other on Xanadu, and they needed a couple that wanted to bond for them and not for the mission. My mother and Spock's mother was part of the first diplomatic mission to Xanadu and they knew that Spock and I was planning on bonding on Vulcan after I finished my education so they asked us if we were willing to compromise." Jim took a deep breath letting what he had said sink in a little before he continued. Bones were looking at him wide eyed.

"Spock and I bonded on Xanadu and are by Federation law married. Out bond is deep enough that I can feel Spock's emotions and if we are close enough we can even speak to each other mentally." Bones blinked a few times.

"Well what can I say about that. Congratulations I guess." Bones smiled and hugged Jim before letting him go, embarrassed by the hug.

Spock was, as Jim told Bones, annoyed. Not with the location, his friends had chosen to spend the evening, or even the fact they hadn't asked if he wanted to come with. He knew that Jim would be there when he came back and that Jim knew that Spock valued his friends. No what was annoying him was Cadet Christine Chapel, who had attached herself to Spock's group of friends with out asking if she was welcome. Most of the others in the group didn't care but Spock felt that it was rude.

The group spent a few hours trying to get Spock to tell him what had happened on his mission more than the bare basics that Spock told them. Spock talked about things he knew that his friends didn't want to know about like the social structure on Xanadu, but he managed to discuss the fauna of Xanadu with one of the junior xenobiologist teachers for nearly an hour.

And then Christine Chapel decided that Spock should talk to her and she started to involve herself in conversations that she knew nothing about. It was annoying but Spock could deal with it. Humans could act illogical when they got lonely.

It was even more annoying when she started clinging to Spock after drinking a few drinks. Spock as a touch telepath was known to avoid touch as much as possible and the feelings he was getting from Chapel was not pleasant. It all came to a head when she tried to kiss him and Spock abruptly stood up and pushed her away making her fall off her chair and end up on the floor.

The group of friends went silent and still watching how the scene would play out. But the only thing that happened was that Spock turned and stiffly walked out of the bar. Leaving Chapel on the floor being looked at by the entire bar. The next day it would be all over the academy that Christine Chapel had thrown herself at Spock and that she was shoved away hard enough to end up on the floor.

It made her surer that he was influenced by Jim and that her plan needed to be used.

She started slowly and on a small scale, with letting some of the Iowa girls talk a bit too loudly about Jim's assets during lunch. Most listened but decided they must have been conquests that Jim made before he started dating Spock. They thought that until they started talking about dates that would have taken place during his relationship with Spock.

Most decided that the girls must have been lying. Even if Jim had a reputation of having a new girl every week, no one had noticed anyone entering Jim's dorm during the time he was with Spock.

Christine smiled slightly when she heard the rumours that started spreading through the Academy. Moreover, she longed for the day that they would finally break-up and she could have her chance.

Spock had heard the rumours, of course he did Vulcan's had better hearing than humans, but he knew his bondmate and knew that Jim would never cheat on anyone. So he disregarded the rumours as something created to hurt Jim. He was right in a way, but it would be a few weeks before he found that out, and then it would almost be to late.


	5. Chapter 4: Revelations

Harmony Chapter 4: Revelations

Spock and Jim's relationship progressed nicely, they had gotten used to living in each others minds all the time. They still had their arguments, with Jim screaming and Spock slightly raising his voice and getting an inpatient tone of voice. The arguments usually ended with either Jim storming off, a move that Spock's mother perfected years ago, or in bed. Both Spock and Jim preferred the second outcome but sometimes Jim had to storm off or risk saying something very stupid.

Bones had settled down somewhat even if refused to tell Jim who he was dating. He wasn't seen with anyone on campus anyway, so Jim thought that Bones must be dating someone from the city. Since no one knew that it had been Bones who had been parading girls in and out of his and Jim's dorm room, everyone assumed that Jim had found a girlfriend. When the cadets asked Jim if he had a girlfriend he denied it. He didn't have a girlfriend he had a husband.

The rumours spread by Christine Chapel had taken a life of their own and had grown and spread to even the Admirals that wasn't in the know. But since the mission was top secret Admiral Archer could not tell the others the truth. That resulted in slightly abusive behaviour towards Jim from all teachers except Archer.

Spock's parents had returned to Vulcan for a short holiday and they had invited Winona to come with, something she had accepted right away. So the only support left on earth for Jim, who was the one the rumours was about, was Spock and Pike. Neither of which could do much about rumours floating around the campus.

More and more of the cadets refused to interact with Jim and the teachers accepted that. In more and more classes Jim was alone and was forbidden from talking in class. It made Jim depressed, something Spock could feel but Jim refused to tell Spock why. It made Spock anxious and a whole vicious circle was begun.

Christine, who was watching from the shadows, smiled when she saw Jim move away silently from the last class of the day. That morning the first pranks had started, Jim being tripped in the hallway or his computer programs destroyed by viruses that left all other computers alone. The last prank had happened in that last class. The classroom was set up so that the commanders and captains of Starships could sit on the balcony above the students and observe the leadership classes for good lieutenants for their ships when their schooling was finished.

This day there was no captains or commanders on the balcony but instead it was full of cadets that had the period free. They had conspired with the rest of the leadership class so that Jim would be forced to sit at a spot right under the maintenance hatch for the lighting. And then they poured paint down through that hatch onto Jim. The paint was easy to remove from plastic or metal but nothing but time could remove it from hair or skin. So Jim would have to spend the next four weeks a very bright neon green.

Christine was happy that she didn't have to start the pranks. The next step was to get the more promiscuous girls of the academy to throw themselves at Jim while dosed in Orion pheromones to make sure that he could not help himself.

It worked in a way. Jim refused all advances since his mind was so focused on Spock that the compulsion part of the Orion pheromones didn't work. But he was still seen with women clinging all over him in parts of the academy that was usually reserved for couples.

Spock was annoyed that Jim refused to tell him what was going on, and to make matters worse Jim had learned somehow to block Spock from his mind. So he couldn't even use Jim's emotions and memories to find out either. That made Jim's home life more difficult too and he spent more and more time alone in his and Bones dorm room. Bones was almost always out with his date now and hadn't noticed how miserable Jim really was.

Spock in reaction to Jim never being home, went out more with his friends and slowly Christine managed to work her way into his group of friends. She had apologized to Spock and blamed the fact that she wasn't used to that amount of alcohol. She made sure to keep this charade up by drinking almost nothing every time she went out with them.

Slowly she managed to get Spock to talk to her about Jim, he never mentioned his name of course or the fact that they were bonded so she did not know that, but he talked about the fact that his partner didn't trust him enough to tell him what was going on. He also told her about the rumours and that they must be false.

The night he told Christine that she went home from the bar, so happy that she didn't even care that Uhura and her boyfriend had apparently failed to reach Uhura's bed. Christine's plan was working, Spock was starting to doubt that Jim had been and still was faithful.

The next part of her plan was the hardest. She needed Jim to be caught in the act with someone. And to be caught by a Admiral. What she hadn't counted on was the fact that Spock would force Jim to come over and then tell Jim that either he could talk to him, or he could call Winona back to earth.

Jim had, like most, caved and talked to Spock. The threat of his mother working like Spock had anticipated. Jim told Spock everything from the rumours that didn't reach the teachers, to the pranks and all the women that had been throwing themselves at him lately.

Spock had called Bones and got him to take an evening of from the girlfriend and come talk to Jim, telling him just how long it had been since he had talked to his best friend. Bones had arrived with in minutes, only he had taken his girlfriend with him. Both Jim and Spock was surprised to se Nyota Uhura with Bones. Last they had heard she was dating Montgomery Scott.

Jim told both Bones and Uhura what had been happening and Uhura had gasped when Jim told her about the women throwing themselves at him. When pressed she explained that it sounded like something her roommate had been working on in her time off. Uhura had thought it was the plot for a novel, Christine was apparently very good at writing stories.

Uhura had told them to stay where they were while she went back to her room to copy the information from the PADD she had read the thing with the girls on.

It took her a while to get back to Spock's room, she had been stopped by a teacher who wanted to talk about an assignment that Uhura had handed in the week before. It had been over two hours when she managed to extract herself from the teacher and get back to Spock and Jim, who had by that time prepared dinner.

She was invited to eat before going over the information. Bones told her quietly that it was best to eat first since Jim rarely ate when he was upset and he had already lost enough weight over the last few weeks.

After dinner Jim had a request, that they called in Pike and Archer so that they could know what was going on too. They might need their help if it turned out to be as bad as they anticipated.

Pike had time to come at once but they had to wait a few more minutes for Archer since he had to find someone to watch over his precious dogs. Jim told his tale for a third time when they had both arrived and they agreed with Spock that while you couldn't do much about rumours, the actions of the teachers and instructors were not fitting of the Academy.

Uhura then told them what she had read a few weeks before on her roommates PADD, and that it had been before random females started throwing themselves at Jim. She then held up the PADD in her hands.

"This is a copy of the PADD I read the first information on. It has more on it now." She handed the PADD to Pike who started to read the information out loud.

"Step one, spread rumours about Kirk and cheating on Spock. Done successfully.

Step two, start pranks on Kirk. Done without interference from me.

Step three, more rumours about Kirk and this time his activities of campus. Done successfully.

Step four, get friends to seduce Kirk with Orion pheromones. Done, somewhat successful.

Step five, more rumours about activities. Done successfully.

Step six, get Kirk to ingest aphrodisiac and put female in his path. Begun.

Step seven, get closer to Spock. Done successfully.

Step eight, get Spock to dump Kirk."

At the end of the text all of the people in the room was horrified. It was a well planned strategy to get Spock and Jim to separate. They were only thankful that Christine Chapel had taken things at face value and hadn't bothered to look beyond what was obvious.

Spock was furious enough that Jim was edging away from him with a wary look on his face. Jim knew that Spock would never hurt him, but something's was left over from his stepfather and would probably never go away. With that in mind Spock focused and blanked his mind forcing the anger to disappear.

They talked for awhile about how to handle this and Archer and Pike decided that the first step was to tell the Admirals about the Xanadu mission. And that Jim was not to be left alone or eat or drink anything from the mess hall or his dorm room until after this was taken care of. Jim agreed to be followed by Uhura or Bones for a few weeks, Spock and he would still have to fake not talking to each other.

Christine was annoyed, Jim was never alone anymore and when the few cadets that still spoke to him asked why it had been Bones who answered that he had been so focused on his new relationship with Uhura that he had neglected his own friend. He had talked with Uhura and now he had more free time to spend with Jim since she wanted to get to know the Jim that Bones knew and not the Jim she had met in a bar.

Most cadet's accepted that explanation, but there was the few that had started to worry about Jim's situation after the pranks had started, who thought that Bones or Uhura was always around to stop something more sinister from happening. They would be right too.

The Admirals had called Jim and Spock in to talk to them after they had been scolded like small children by Archer. The first thing they did was to apologize and to ask what they could do to help the situation. Spock who had thought about it in advance asked the Admirals to monitor all communications to and from Christine.

With in a day they had enough to put her behind bars if she was caught in the act. As it was nothing could be tied to her except the rumours and they could do nothing about that.

After a long talk with the Admirals it was decided that Jim would let himself be "caught" pretending to drink the soda that Christine had told one of her female friends in a communication would be spiked by her with an aphrodisiac. If they could find fingerprints on the glass from her she would be caught and could face trial and a mental evaluation.

Spock would be close by so that he could step in before the woman could take advantage of Jim. She would also be tried for the violation that an aphrodisiac was.

No matter how prepared Jim was he was still nervous when he walked in to the mess hall with Bones . It had been planed so that they would sit down and pull the cadets at the table into a conversation and halfway through Jim would absentmindedly drink the soda that would have appeared by his side. He would then leave alone a few minutes later so that he could be approached.

It worked, Jim managed to loose himself in the conversation about where they wanted to be stationed after graduation enough that he wasn't nervous when Bones nudged him to show that the drink had showed up. Jim drank the soda fast so that no one could ask to get some of it.

The aphrodisiac was a potent one, that Jim could tell at once. Most were slow acting but this one started working almost at once and it was strong. Quickly Jim excused himself and said that he had to use the bathroom.

Everything worked as it was supposed to. The woman, a nurse, followed only seconds after Jim had left the room and cornered Jim only a few meters from the door to the mess hall. She was grabbed by campus security straight away and removed from the scene before she could protest.

Spock then removed Jim from campus as quickly as he could. The rest of the day was very pleasurable for Jim and Spock, not so much for Christine Chapel who had been arrested in the middle of Starfleet Medical.

The day after Jim and Spock was shown to Christine's cell. They both wanted to know why she had done it. After the visit they were to go to the Academy where their bonding would be announced in the mess hall during lunch. The Admirals had decided to remove any chance for anyone else to even think about separating Jim and Spock.

Christine looked like she had been in a fight and they were told that she had fought all the way into the jail.

Jim was the one to ask Christine why. The answer they got chilled even the guards.

"You don't deserve him, he is so much better than you Kirk. With all the girls you had in and out of your room before and during your relationship with Spock. Whore!" She spat at Jim.

Spock turned to the doctor that was with them.

"No one told her that I have been dating Jim for years?" The doctor explained that she lived totally in her own world and that it was amazing that she had functioned as long as she had.

Jim's last comment to Christine made everyone in the room laugh. It was so in character for him that even Spock could not help but to smile.

"Christine, jump of a long cliff(1). Spock is mine and has always been mine." With that he walked calmly out of the jail to the sound of Christine's crazed cursing.

Jim smiled as he stopped outside the jail. Jim asked Spock the question that would rule the rest of their lives together.

"What do we do now?" Spock walked up beside Jim and answered. "What ever we want."

The End

(1) Kudos to Magpie1600 who wrote in a review "They should just tell her (chris) to jump off a long cliff. " It was the driving force behind the chapter. Thank you.


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